Tim Tszyu grabbing a second belt sounds great until you look at who is holding it. Erislandy Lara is 43, fights once a year, and represents a safe shortcut to a championship rather than any kind of statement at middleweight.
Picking up the WBA strap off a semi-retired veteran will look good on paper, but beating Lara proves nothing about where Tszyu stands against actual middleweight threats.
The December 13 date at Cbus Super Stadium in Queensland is pure home-cooked business. Lara has defended this belt just four times since picking it up in May 2021. Holding a title hostage across five years through inactivity is not dominance; it is just boxing politics at work. His points win over late sub Johan Gonzalez last December told everyone what they already knew: Lara is running out the clock.
The Cuban still knows how to survive, jab, and make opponents look bad. But expecting the slick operator from eight years ago to magically appear in Australia is wishful thinking.
Tszyu’s team knows exactly what they bought here. They get a recognized name, a major title, and an opponent old enough to be Tszyu’s father who barely fights. From a purely competitive standpoint, he doesn’t come out ahead. If Tszyu beats Lara, hardcore fans will just say he ran over a 43-year-old museum piece. If he struggles or loses, his stock completely craters. The entire maneuver is purely about leverage, optics, and business.
Casual fans and mainstream Australian sports outlets do not track Lara’s inactivity or birth certificate; they just see that Tszyu went up to 160 and captured another major title. It gives his team a shiny promotional bullet point that lasts forever, regardless of how watered down the accomplishment actually is.
Holding the WBA middleweight strap transforms Tszyu from a challenger hunting for fights into a belt-holder who dictates terms. In modern boxing, belts are chips at the negotiating table.
If Terence Crawford, Canelo Alvarez, or anyone else wants to talk big-money unification or cross-weight clashes down the line, Tszyu having a 160-pound trinket gives him contractual leverage, a higher purse split, and immediate PPV headliner status in Australia.
Since Sebastian Fundora battered Tszyu inside seven rounds in their summer 2025 rematch, Tszyu has coasted on decision wins. Beating an inactive Errol Spence Jr. at 154 was convenient, but now Tszyu gets to leap straight to a middleweight belt without trading punches with a single real contender at 160 pounds.
It is soft matchmaking dressed up as elite action. Tszyu might leave the ring wearing middleweight gold, but taking a belt off Lara’s ghost will fool nobody paying close attention.
The undercard tells the same story. Jermell Charlo steps in against Brock Jarvis, a guy already knocked cold by Liam Paro and Keith Thurman. Charlo has been sitting on the couch since Canelo took his lunch money in 2023.
